Acquittal for Ott
BVT scandal: mystery surrounding the identity of “Alpha 77”
The trial against former BVT chief inspector Egisto Ott and ex-FPÖ member of the National Council Hans-Jörg Jenewein continued on Monday with the testimony of a former BVT colleague. However, the witness showed considerable gaps in his memory - including whether he had chatted with Ott under the nickname "Alpha77". The verdict: 12 months conditional sentence for Jenewein and acquittal for Ott.
According to the indictment, there was "cooperation" between Ott and Jenewein from August 2018. Jenewein, then a member of the parliamentary BVT investigative committee and briefly FPÖ security spokesperson, had received information from Ott about a meeting of the "Berner Club".
The accusations against Ott and Jenewein
Ott, who was already suspended at the time, is said to have sent him a list of names of BVT officials who had attended this international meeting of intelligence service employees. Jenewein is also alleged to have instructed Ott to obtain information about the "Soko Tape" - an investigative group set up after the Ibiza video. Jenewein is also accused of taking illegal photos in the U Committee and sending them to Ott.
From October 2018 to May 2019, Jenewein allegedly commissioned a former member of Kickl's cabinet to provide him with reports containing information on participants in two meetings of European intelligence services. In June 2020, Ott then allegedly "leaked" confidential information about two BVT officials and an undercover investigator to a German. All defendants deny the allegations made against them.
After questioning the ex-BVT colleague, the former head of the BVT Peter Gridling and an employee of the BVT successor organization DSN, all further motions for evidence were rejected. The verdict was then announced in the afternoon: 12 months conditional sentence for Jenewein, acquittal for Ott. The verdict is not final.
Who is "Alpha 77"?
A central topic on Monday was the identity of "Alpha77". According to chat logs, Ott had asked this user who was in the "Soko Tape". However, the witness could not remember whether he himself was "Alpha77" - although the corresponding number was saved under his name on Ott's cell phone. "We had several nicknames," said the ex-BVT officer. He knew about the composition of "Soko Tape" through chats on social media. There were also repeated jokes under nicknames about who was going there. "Nobody who can do anything is going there," was one of the comments.
A DSN official then explained the confidentiality measures in place there. She emphasized that lists of participants in international committees would not be passed on to committees of inquiry. According to the witness, passing on DSN names would jeopardize national security interests as it would undermine the trust of partner services. The public was excluded from further discussion of the lists of participants.
Jenewein's defense countered that as a subcommittee member, he had been responsible for monitoring the secret service. Some members of the sub-committee had appeared by name, while others could be seen in the official calendar of the National Library. Ex-BVT head Gridling also explained that such lists of participants in the Bern Club were not disclosed to committees, although the names could appear on internal expense reports.
Foreign skepticism towards BVT under Kickl
Gridling considered a photo that Ott is said to have forwarded to Jenewein to be particularly problematic: It showed two BVT officers with a South Korean colleague buying lederhosen. According to the former head of the BVT, this could damage the trust of international partner services.
Gridling also referred to the existing skepticism of foreign intelligence services towards the BVT before the raid - which had increased since the appointment of Herbert Kickl (FPÖ) as Interior Minister. This had been noticed, among other things, through information from the Finns - they had inadvertently sent information to the BVT that was addressed to everyone except Austria.
Espionage investigations not concluded
The Vienna public prosecutor's office has been investigating Ott since 2017 for abuse of office, secret intelligence to the detriment of Austria and other offenses. He was arrested on March 29, 2024 and held in custody until June 26 of the same year.
The reason for his detention was information that Ott had handed over the official cell phones of three former cabinet members of the then Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP) and a Signa laptop with secret information from an EU state to the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB. These allegations are not the subject of the proceedings and are also denied by Ott - the investigations by the public prosecutor's office into this case have not yet been concluded.
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